Winter Harbor ice cream parlor reopens with different twist

WINTER HARBOR – A local landmark has reopened on Main Street with a new look and with provisions previously hard to come by on the Schoodic Peninsula. But two things have not changed.

It is still called J.M. Gerrish (Provisions has been added to the name) and you can still order ice cream and eat it perched on a stool at an old-fashioned marble counter.

Lucas St. Clair and Jennifer Amara, co-proprietors of the year-old Mama’s Boy Bistro down the street, purchased and renovated the ice cream parlor last winter.

Winter Harbor native and Philadelphia philanthropist Eugene Fitz Dixon sold J.M. Gerrish on two conditions – that its name stay the same and ice cream still be sold.

“That was fine by us,” St. Clair said. “We tried to keep the old feel.”

J.M. Gerrish has served ice cream to several generations of year-round and summer residents on the Schoodic Peninsula.

As a boy, Winter Harbor resident Bruce Mackay remembers getting free samples of the homemade ice cream then served year-round. Born in 1919, Mackay cups his palms and fingers in the shape of a bowl to demonstrate how the freshly made, chilly treat would pour out of the machines straight into his hands.

“They cranked it by hand,” Mackay recalled. “It was very good.”

At the newly renovated J.M. Gerrish Provisions, ice cream is no longer made there, but the old marble counter has been preserved and there are a few tables inside and on the front porch, where people can sit while slurping a mocha milkshake made with espresso coffee or eating a sandwich made fresh at the deli counter. The floor has been rebuilt, the front porch extended and more space added for storage and food preparation.

On a recent lunch menu, among the offerings were a smoked turkey sandwich, made with Cheddar cheese and peach salsa, and a roast beef sandwich featuring red onion and horseradish cream cheese. Gourmet teas, sauces, condiments and other specialty items produced by companies such as Stonewall Kitchen, Pemberton’s and Bella Cucina line the store shelves. The store also offers wine, some locally raised organic produce and meat, freshly brewed gourmet coffee and whole loaves of bread.

St. Clair said that he and Amara acquired the ice cream parlor with the intent of giving Schoodic Peninsula residents a place to buy fine food and beverages. Previously, he said people had to drive to Ellsworth to buy such provisions.

“There’s a huge demand for it,” St. Clair said.

Both seasonal and year-round Winter Harbor residents acknowledge that staunch traditionalists may not embrace all the changes at J. M. Gerrish. They agreed that the renovated building looks better than it did and that it is preferable to have the formerly unprofitable business adapt rather than close its doors for good – even if you can’t get hot dogs there anymore.

“It’s some different but I think they’ve done a very good job over there,” Mackay said.

Peter Drinkwater, who has owned the Winter Harbor Five & Ten on Main Street for 15 years, said the parlor’s new look and line of goods should benefit the area.

“It’s different in a good way,” he said.

J.M. Gerrish Provisions is located on Main Street in Winter Harbor. 963-2727. Bill Trotter can be reached at 667-9395 and bdnnews2@downeast.net.